Music department news

Christmas, as usual, was a very busy time for the choir of St. Botolph's Church but, so far, 2019 is proving just as enjoyable and challenging!

On
Saturday, January 26th most of our choir members travelled to Chichester to take part in a combined Festal Choral Evensong at St. Paul's Church, Chichester (where our priest, Rev. Peter Kane, served his curacy). Our singers joined with the St. Paul's choir, and others from Whyke; St. Mary's, Portsea, and Arundel Cathedral - about 60 voices in all.

The event was directed by St. Paul's choirmaster, Christopher Larley, and included C.V. Stanford's Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in C, "Walk in the way of love" (a beautiful introit by Christopher's father, Patrick Larley) and Handel's famous "Zadok the priest" as well as a psalm and hymn.

The forces in the combined choir were matched by numbers in the congregation for the 5.30pm service, and the St. Paul's 'catering team' did a fantastic job feeding us all afterwards with a wonderful spread of cakes and desserts!

Now the St. Botolph's choristers are working hard in preparation for their next outing - they are singing Evensong at Portsmouth Cathedral on
Saturday, 30th March, when they will be joined by a few friends from the Portsmouth area. Music will include Rose responses, Wood in D canticles, Psalm 116 (with a chant specially written by choirmaster Tony Tournoff), and S.S. Wesley's anthem 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace'. Philip Drew, organist and choirmaster of the church of the Holy Spirit, Southsea, will be at the organ.

Plans are also underway for a concert on
Saturday, June 15th at St. Botolph's. Although the choir will be involved in this, the intention is to show the group's versatility and will include 'friends' as well as the choir members. The music will
notbe anything like you might hear on a Sunday morning at St. B's and is likely to include spirituals, songs from the shows, solo and small group slots (although nothing is set in stone yet) - a real mixture of light music for a summer evening (hopefully the weather will oblige!) Do put the date in your diaries and watch out for more details nearer the time.

The church is very lucky to have Richard Baker acting as our organist at the moment, but we are still (at his request) urgently seeking an organist who could take some of the burden off his shoulders after Easter and play for at least two or three services each month. If you know anyone who may be interested, please show them the advert below and ask them to get in touch with Rik Clay, our churchwarden, as soon as possible.

Great December weekend at St. Botolph's helps support three different charities

Nearly 100 people - including Mayor of Worthing, Cllr. Paul Baker and his wife, Sandra - joined us at St. Botolph's on Sunday afternoon, 16th December, for our first ever Community Carol Service, and the collection raised a fantastic four hundred pounds for charity.

The proceeds will be divided equally between Christian charity Tear Fund, which works in more than 50 countries, and local charity Samara's Aid Appeal which provided humanitarian and medical aid, particularly to Syria.

Four pieces sung by the choir of St. Botolph's were interlaced with congregational carols and readings, and a short talk was given by Priest-in-Charge, Rev. Peter Kane. Of the choir items, one - the beautiful 'Medieval Carol' by Philip Drew - was a world premiere! Philip, a long-time friend of some of the members of our choir, had kindly given us permission to perform the piece even before the members of his own choir at The Church of the Holy Spirit, Southsea did so at their carol service an hour or so later!

Members of the St. Botolph's congregation enjoyed mulled wine and mince pies after the service.

Turning Tides Christmas Tree Festival

On Saturday, 15th December between 10am and 4pm and on Sunday, 16th between 11.30 and 4.00, St. Botolph's Church hosted a Christmas Tree Festival for the local charity Turning Tides (previously Worthing Churches Homeless Projects).

Twenty beautifully decorated trees were on display in the church, and there were also craft stalls and refreshments on offer, as well as singing by Spring into Soul Rock Choir and the Broadwater Community Choir.

The dreadful weather - particularly on the Saturday - did, unfortunately, limit attendances, but it was still a delightful event, much appreciated by those who did attend.

People were invited to vote for their favourite tree and the most votes went to the tree decorated by the U3A Inspired Instrumentalists, with the Arundel Wetland and Wildfowl Trust in a fairly close second place.

​

Winter Fayre raises over £980!​

Despite November 24th dawning damp and drizzly, the St. Botolph's Winter Fayre proved a great success, attracting a good number of visitors and raising more than £900 for church funds on the day, with other monies and donations since making the total over £980.

In addition to stalls - including books, cakes, gifts, bric-a-brac, bottle stall and a children's stall - children's art activities were available and there was a grand raffle. Refreshments were available throughout the day, with soup and roll lunches on offer from midday, and the St. Botolph's Room was a hive of activity from the start to end of the Fayre. Huge thanks go to those who provided the home-made soups and, even more so, to Suzi and Charles who worked tirelessly all day serving the refreshments, washing up and clearing away. It was a mammoth undertaking!

The bell tower was open to visitors between 11am and 1pm and people had the opportunity to go and give ringing a try for themselves.

There was also a programme of entertainment which was much appreciated by visitors, who took time out from 'shopping' and enjoying refreshments to watch/listen to the various contributions.

The morning started with a "drop in" gentle exercise class at 10.15am, run by Shafi from White Crane Martial Arts, and this was followed by wonderful singing from the Heene School Christmas Choir. The children from the school were not able to be with us last year, so it was a treat to have them there this time around! This was followed by a Chinese Dragon workshop for children and adults and then a demonstration of flamenco dance and guitar. Adults from the U3A Beginners' and Improvers' Recorder groups (which meet on Fridays at the church) rounded off the programme of entertainment, with a varied selection of tunes from different periods, plus a couple of carols.

Frances, Sylvia and Cleo - the cake stall team at the Winter Fayre - all ready to start selling.